(AINA)
-- The mother of Christina Khader Ebada, a 3 year-old Assyrian girl
who was abducted from her family by ISIS as they were leaving
Baghdede (AINA 2014-08-25), was interviewed by Ishtar TV, an Assyrian
network based in Arbel. The interview was conducted after Christina's
family reached Ankawa, just north of Arbel, where 70,000 Assyrians
refugees have come in flight from ISIS.

According
to a relative of the family, Christina's mother is physically
handicapped and her father is blind.

Here
is the text of the interview.

..."We
went and sat in the big bus, and then one man came aboard, I was
carrying my child in my arms, I sat in the bus and he came and took
her from me, snatched her from me, and left the bus. I followed him
inside [the building], and my little girl was crying inside the
center. An old man, one of those ISIS people, who was apparently
their leader then carried her.

He
said [she is speaking in Arabic now] "is this your daughter?"
I said yes. He said "she is crying for you." I told him
give her back to me, poor girl, what is she guilty of? She is breast
feeding from me. For the sake of Allah, for the sake of Muhammad,
what do you worship? Give me this little one, she is breast feeding
from me. She will die if she does not see me. I am her mother.

He
said "shut up. if you speak another word I will let them
slaughter you. I will call them now to slaughter you." He drew
his machine gun and said "go quickly to the car. If you come
close to this little girl you will be slaughtered, we shall slaughter
you. Come now, go!"...

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Saint Augustine of Hippo (also known as Aurelius Augustinus; Doctor of Grace) was born around 354 A.D., at Tagaste, Numidia, North Africa (Souk-Ahras, Algeria) as Aurelius Augustinus. He was the son of Patricius, a pagan, and of Saint Monica, and he received a Christian education.

He lost his faith in his youth and led a wild life. He lived with a Carthaginian woman from the age of 15 through 30, and he fathered a son whom he named Adeotadus, which means the gift of God. Augustine had gone to Carthage to study law, but, he became a slave to immorality and eventually embraced the heresy of Manichaeism.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Pope
Francis on Monday endorsed the use of force to stop Islamic militants
from attacking religious minorities in Iraq but said the
international community -- and not just one country -- should decide
how to intervene.

Francis
also said he and his advisers were considering whether he might go to
northern Iraq himself to show solidarity with persecuted Christians.
But he said he was holding off for now on a decision.

In
other comments to journalists returning from South Korea, Francis
confirmed he hoped to travel to the United States in September 2015
for a possible three-city tour: to attend a family rally in
Philadelphia and to address Congress in Washington and the United
Nations in New York. He said a Mexico stop on that trip was possible
but not decided yet. He also said he might make one-day visit to
Spain next year.

On
Iraq, Francis was asked if he approved of the unilateral U.S.
airstrikes on militants of the Islamic State who have captured swaths
of northern and western Iraq and northeastern Syria and have forced
minority Christians and others to either convert to Islam or flee
their homes.

"In
these cases, where there is an unjust aggression, I can only say that
it is licit to stop the unjust aggressor," Francis said. "I
underscore the verb `stop.' I'm not saying `bomb' or `make war,' just
`stop.' And the means that can be used to stop them must be
evaluated."

But,
he said, in history, such "excuses" to stop an unjust
aggression have been used by world powers to justify a "war of
conquest" in which an entire people have been taken over.

"One
nation alone cannot judge how you stop this, how you stop an unjust
aggressor," he said, apparently referring to the United States.
"After World War II, the idea of the United Nations came about:
It's there that you must discuss `Is there an unjust aggression? It
seems so. How should we stop it?' Just this. Nothing more."

His
comments were significant because the Vatican has vehemently opposed
any military intervention in recent years, with St. John Paul II
actively trying to head off the Iraq war and Francis himself staging
a global prayer and fast for peace when the U.S. was threatening
airstrikes on Syria last year.

But
the Vatican has been increasingly showing support for military
intervention in Iraq, given that Christians are being directly
targeted because of their faith and that Christian communities which
have existed for 2,000 years have been emptied as a result of the
extremists' onslaught.

The
U.S. began launching airstrikes against Islamic State fighters on
Aug. 8, allowing Kurdish forces to fend off an advance on their
regional capital of Irbil and to help tens of thousands of religious
minorities escape.

Church
teaching allows for "just wars," when military force can be
justified under certain circumstances. And in recent days, a few
Vatican officials have edged increasingly toward acknowledging the
Iraq situation fits the bill.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

NAJAF,
Iraq -- After Christians were forced to leave Mosul and other areas
that fell under the control of the Islamic State (IS), Kurdish and
Shiite dominated cities opened their doors to receive them. Religious
authorities adopted stances supporting Christians, as they called on
residents to host and help their brothers in the country.

The
Imam Al-Khoei Foundation, one of the prominent religious institutions
in Najaf, issued on July 30 a statement in support of Christians and
minorities in Iraq. An excerpt of the statement reads, "We
announce our readiness to receive the displaced Iraqi families, be
they Christians or Muslims. We call on all Iraqis to offer aid for
the displaced families and protect them from the aggressors, in
accordance with the principles of humanitarian and national
fraternity."

Saturday, August 09, 2014

The
wildfire victories of the Islamic State (IS, formerly the Islamic
State in Iraq and Syria) in northern Iraq and Syria have left the
area's minorities under threat.

Torn
between fighting back and leaving for good, Assyrians, Syriacs,
Armenians, and Kurds, all inhabitants of the area and part of its
rich historic legacy, are weighing their ever-diminishing options.

IS
policies, inspired by a fanatical version of Islam, were made clear
in its conquest of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city. There, they
destroyed Christian and Shiite places of worship and demanded that
all non-Muslims pay the jizya, an ancient poll tax, observe a certain
dress code, or convert to Islam.

Exile
is another option that the IS has offered to the conquered
population. Many escaped before the arrival of the hardened followers
of the Al-Qaeda affiliate, which recently declared its leader a
caliph and demanded that all Muslims obey him.

Last
week, IS forces converged on Al-Hasakah in northeastern Syria, a
province dominated by Christians, and claimed it would annex it to
its expanding territories.

IS
leaders said that they plan to "liberate" the provincial
capital of Al-Hasakah from the "hands of the infidels," an
epithet which it uses indiscriminately in reference to Muslims and
non-Muslims who oppose its brutal methods.

The
IS has proved itself to be a tough adversary in battle. Its fighters
are toughened by years of fighting in both Iraq and Syria, and have a
high morale after their recent successes. Armed with superior
weaponry stolen from the arms depots of the Iraqi army, IS fighters
are now engaged in skirmishes near Al-Hasakah, testing the city's
defences before an assault.

Inside
the city, the various communities have come together to defend
themselves. Reports from the beleaguered city speak of a growing
coalition of Kurds, Christian militia, and regime forces -- groups
that have conflicting agendas but are now united by the threat of a
common enemy.